ABSTRACT
Literacy is often an important goal of social movements; activists frequently demand literacy training. In the case of women's activism in Nepal that we discuss here, for example, literacy was prized not only as key to a good job, but, more important, was considered one of the core skills of the ‘educated person’. At the time of our research, being educated meant having finished at least the eighth grade, and because of Nepal's unique political history, was considered key to becoming politically aware or ‘conscious’ (Skinner and Holland, 1996). To be conscious, one had to be able to learn about the world by reading newspapers and books. 1 An ‘educated person’ was a valued social identity that women were tired of being denied; they wanted increased educational opportunities. Activists wanted women to move beyond being barely literate to becoming educated and politically active. They called for daughters not to be passed over in favour of sons when it came to decisions about who would stay in school.
